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Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2290, 8 September 1870, Page 2

Provincial Council. We believe that the Council will be called together within three weeks from the prorogation of the General Assembly. The principal busine?s is to complete the arrangements for the union-with Southland. North Dunedin Mutual Improvement Association.— The concert in aid of the drill shed fund takes place to-morrow evening. . Personal.— The Tokomaimvo papers state that Mr D. P. Steel, of Clutha, for , many years the representative of the district in the Provincial Council, k about to leave; the Colony, A Youthful Bon Mot. —At one of the ragged rchool meetings in Auckland, a. little boy was asked if he knew where liars j went, to which he answered-—“ Yes; to the j priest to confess, or to Wellington to write) for the papers.” j Bankrupts in Auckland. The: Southern Gross says a sitting of the Supreme ! Court in Bankruptcy was held before Chief Justice Sir George A. Arney, A list of about fifty bankrupts was the work before the Court, and about forty were disposed of or advanced a stage. Bell Ward Election.— The City Council, yesterday, not only resolved to reimburse Mr Bagley for his costs in defending the action of Eegina v. Bagley, but resolved to take the opinion of the City Solicitor as to the advisability of taking the matter before the A ppeal Court. The resolutions were arrived at in committee of the whole Council. Port Chalmers Railway. Mr Packham was made good use of his time in the prosecution of the work included in his contract. The weather has not on the whole been favorable since he began the embankment but it is already far advanced between St. Andrew street and the end of Albany street. The line at this point forms a s’igbt curve leading into the Dunedin terminus. Knowing Ones. —■ Au Auckland paper says that the natives are becoming adepts at law. One of them, the other day, sued another for the value of some dogs lent. The defendant admitted having borrowed the dogs and lost them ; but in defence, as the animals were not registered, denied his liability and maintained they had no “legal existence.” The Bench reserved their decision.

Law op Partnership.—Men who cheat their partners in business (says a Northern paper), by stealing or vising the property of the co-partnership for their own private uses, are being tenderly attended to by the Legislature, A Bill is passing through jbotli Houses of the Assembly to provide for making such partner at once liable for such appropriations, 1 instead of being, as at present, protected by the circumstances that the property is partnership property.

Concert. —On Friday evening next the Colored Opera Troupe give a performance at the Princess Theatre, for the purpose of establishing a fund to recoup the members the expense they are put to in providing those entertainments which for many months past have been a source of amusement to the unfortunates in the Lunatic Asylym, and no little pleasure to the outside public. Hitherto the whole cost has fallen on the members themselves ; but putting but of consideration that fact, there will still be sufficient ground for asking the support of the public. Judging by the pro-

gramme, the perform inco will be an unusuajly.'gooil oiio, aud-jvLl! -b$ under the patronagb of the Mayor and City Council. Supreme Court.— TliA trial of ithe prisonei; for the Clyde gpld escort robbery' was continued. to-day, and excited even more interest than yesterday. The body of. the court was inconveniently crowded during the Avholo of the day, while a good many remained at the windows and outside until 'they were able tol gain admittance. The trial must of necessity be continued over to morrow.

Longitude of Wellington.— A report by the Board appointed to enquire into this subject,- is-published in a recent (razf-lte, from which it appears that the Board do not think it desirable to longer keep the matter an open question, and recommend “therefore that the official longitude of the chart shall bo, for the present, presumed to be correct, and adopted as the initial longitude of Now Zealand, from which all other longitudes shall he determined.” And they feel assured that the limit of error would he le*s than a mariner is capable of determining with the instruments at his command on shipboard. New Zealand Fish. —ln the course of a lecture on “Natural History,”delivered at Wellington, Dr Hector pointed out the predominance of varieties of fish in the New Z .‘aland fauna. He stated that the varieties .- re much more numerous than is generally supposed, numbering close on 140 kinds, specimens of which might be gathered in the course of a year. He thought that the most valuable kinds were those which do not frequent the hay and inlets, but, being gregarious like the most prized varieties of fish in Europe, will be found on banks, and should therefore be sought for in a more systematic manner than that at present cmplayed. He did not know the exact description of fish that visited the shores of Cook’s Straits in such numbers a few years ago, but thinks they may have been herring. The fish found* at present in the harbor and cmnmoaly known as herring, he says arc mullet.

Acclimatisation Society, —At the meeting of the Council this afternoon there were present—Messrs Munson (in the chair), Hepburn, Fulton, Carrick, Cantrell, Ecclcs, and Turkon. It was resolved to appoint a collector to the Society in place of Mr Holman, whose terms were not acceded to. A letter from Mr Wheatley was read, stating that one of the Angora goats had dropped two kids, and that he had forwarded the fleece of a male goat to Messrs Driver, Stewart, .and Co. It had been scoured, and weighed 7.{lbs, Mr Clifford reported the results of his visit to Tasmania. On bis way he called at Melbourne, and had bs6n informed by the President of the Victoria Society that that Sociecty expected to be able to send down a supply of hares about November. With reference to the ova lie brought over, he reported that they were all safely deposited in the hatching boxes by ten o’clock on the morning after arrival. The result of the shipment was most cheering. Three or four only had died, and the quantity of good ova was, salmon trout 140, brown trout 1070, English perch 18 (all alive). ■ In accordance with the manager’s suggestion, votes of thanks were awarded to Captain ol the Swordfish, and Mr Curphy, mate of thy same vessel. The Gnawings op Remorse.^—The Melbourne Leader says;— The suicide gf Lebrun de Massin, a Frenchman, at Berlin diggings, is a wonderful example of firmness and determination, scarcely to be accounted for by any supposition, except that the unhappy man’s mind was diseased. From entries made jin his diary it appeared that he had attempted his life several times by the method often employed by his countrymen—suffocation by tiye fnmc| of charcoal—and, failing an th : s, probably be.caugy he was unable iin a tent, to sufficiently exclude the air, ’he clc'iberate’y noted down that other means must be used. On Thursday moruling last he shot himself with a pistol, the unnzzle of which he must have pressed close ito his side, as a piece of his flannel shirk was blown into his lungs, and this he accomplished a few minutes after failing to hang himse’f, the rope he used for the purpose not being strong enough to bear his weight,* and haying broken in the attempt. But even this does-.not show to the full extent his determination to carry out his purpose. Near the spot where he was discovered a razor case was found lying on the ground, with a razor in it, for which it may be inferred that if the bullet had not done its work he would have had recourse to the still surer weapon with which he had provided himself. The unfortunate man had been sentenced to death in this Colony for the murder of his wife through jealousy, but had been let off with five years’ imprisonment, since which time he appears to have led a lonely and miserable life, tortured by a remembrance of his wrongs and his criipc, a sufferer from sickness, and unsuccessful in the occupation which he chosen—that of a miner. The coroner read several extracts from a book, which appeared to be a kind of diary the deceased had kept. One entry, da ! edthc4th of August, and signed L. dc Massin, was to the effect that he had failed with charcoal, and must try other means, as life was a burden. Other entries revealed the sad state of destitution to which he was reduced, and others consisted of denunciations of the police, whom he appeared to think had treated him badlja Inspector Winch and Captain Standish seemed especially objects of his aversion. Protection in Victoria. —The Australasian, in an article on the falling-off of the revenue of Victoria, says :—“ That excellent milch cow, the public revenue, is not yielding anything like so much as was expected from her at the beginning of the year. Mr Francis shows ns that the pail is far from full, and his predecessor on the milking stool sn veys the diminished supply with blank amazement. Mr Berry fully expected to receive L 1,764,550 during the first six months of 1870, and Mr Francis, less sanguine but still hopeful, calculated upon getting L 1,666,100 during the same period Both of them are greviously out in their reckoning. The total receipts were only L 1,444,101. In 1851, when our population was only two-thirds of its present number, we raised more money with greater ease. But that was under a tariff which was a model of simplicity, and before we had commenced strangling our commerce under the pretence of protecting our native industry. Upon the quarter ending the 30th June there is a deficiency of L 41,224, three-fourths of which may be traced to a falling-off in the Customs and excise duties, showing diminished consumption on the p.art of the people. There is also a decrease of L 10,426

in the railway receipts for the quarter. Adtliough- we-trust that some of .the causes tVhich have led to this unsatisfactory state of things are only temporary, yet we must not lose sight of the fact that for five or six years we have been aiHiotCd with a radically vicious fiscal policy, and that for 12 years previously, during which our population only averaged 467,0130, wc raised an average income of over L 3,000,000 sterling; while with 750,000 inhabitants, and with the aid of LI 17,000 obtained from the sale of Crown lands, we cannot manage in the first half of 1870 to scrape together Ll,500,000 ; Parliamentary government is no doubt a fine thing, but it sends some extraordinary financiers to the surface of public life—men who have never read Adam Smith, and who would cut a sorry figure if subj eted to an examination with respect to their knowledge of the elementary principles of taxation. Who was It. —“ Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have '■neatness thrust upon them It might be added that some acquire greatness by singular accidents. This latter case is exemplified by the manner in which oim of our Hon. Legislative Councillors acquired his seat. There were two brothers —we wili not mention their names—who lived in the northern portion of the Colony. One of these brothers was a liue, genial, gentlemanly man, respected by all who knew him, and having great weight and influence ia the district in which he resided ; his brother was his very opposite in all particulars. In the days of the Stafford Ministry, it was decided to call the first mentioned, brother to the Upper House, but unfortunately the Christian names of the two were confounded, and the place of honor was bestowed on the undeserving one. Unconscious of the mistake, the Ministry did nothing to rectify it, and remained in ignorance until Parliament met, when, to Mr Stafford’s intense disgust, he found that ho had got “the wrong sow by the ear.” I’emedy was too late; the honorable took his scat; but wc understand that Mi Stafford registered a solemn voav to make himself beUcr acquainted with the Christian names of those he intended to honor in future.

A special summoned meeting ot the A.O.F. Court Enterprise, No. 3990, will be held ab the Royal George Hotel, to-morrow evening, at S p.m. Business : Investment of funds.

The Committee of the Otago Bene volent Institution acknowledge by advertisement receipt of L 25 10s collected by Capt. Thomson in Port Chalmers.

The Battery of the Dunedin Volunteer Artillery will muster for battalion drill this evening at /.30. After which the quarterly meeting, postponed from last night, will be held.

A Lecture will be delivered in the Schoolhouse, Mornington, (in aid of the District Sunday School Library Fund), tomorrow, Friday, evening by Mr J. H, Pope, on Chemistry, illustrated by various experiments. The chair will be taken at eight o’clock. We notice by our advertising columns that the cradle testimonial will be presented to his Worship tno Mayor, at the Council Chamber, on Friday afternoon, at 3 o’clock, and will be on view to subscribers and others from 10 a.m, to time of presentation.

We would remind our readers that the Rev. Father Maloney will deliver a lecture ojj “Tie Social Condition of Ireland ’ tips evfipjng jn St. Joseph’s schoolroom in aid of the library of the Roman Catholic Young Men's The pljoif <?f St. Joseph’s will also -sing a selection of songri, duets, &c.